2026 NARPM® & AppFolio AI Opportunity Report

Two Populations, One Survey

Industry studies have established how many property managers use AI. This report asks a different question: What performance outcomes is that use actually producing, and do they match what clients expect?

To answer that, we surveyed two populations rather than one. First, residential property management professionals at United States fee-management companies that already use AI. Second, their clients: residential rental owners and investors who currently work with a professional property manager. Asking both groups parallel questions makes it possible to compare how property managers are leveraging AI with what outcomes their clients expect from this powerful technology.

Adoption is no longer the story. Nearly 80% of the fee managers we screened reported that their companies use AI. Among those firms, 64% of respondents we surveyed use AI daily or almost daily, and more than half started within the past year. But they are applying it narrowly, mainly to communication tasks, handled by general-purpose tools that sit outside the core system of record. The primary goal is completing tasks more quickly, and that’s the main outcome they can point to: Only 9% have measured any quantifiable improvement in business performance as a result of AI.

Owners are looking for something more. By a wide margin, they prefer property managers who use AI. They expect it to show up in financial results, not just improved operational efficiency. They are also notably more comfortable than their managers are with agentic AI: AI systems that don’t just recommend an action but carry it out on their own, within set boundaries, before a human reviews the result. The distance between those two positions is the finding on which this report is built.

The opportunity is no longer to adopt AI. It is to point it at outcomes clients can see and then demonstrate those outcomes clearly.

Widespread adoption happened quickly and became a routine part of operations almost immediately. During survey screening, 78% of fee managers reported that their companies use some form of AI and were included in the final survey. The remaining 22% were screened out. Among those AI-using firms, more than half began within the past 12 months. Frequency of use climbed just as fast: 64% already use AI daily or almost daily. Habit formed before strategy did.

Takeaway: Adoption is no longer a differentiator. How AI is used and what it is asked to produce are.

Half of Managers Run Unconnected Tools, but 62% Want One Platform

Half of fee managers run a mix of unconnected AI tools, and only 22% say AI is primarily built into the core platform they already run their business on. 

However, this is not the mix they say they want: 62% would prefer either an all-in-one platform (35%) or a core platform with a few specialized tools connected to it (27%).

Takeaway: There is a wide gap between the tech stack property managers have and the tech stack they want.

Communication Tasks Make Up the Majority of Current AI Use

Communication tasks top the list of what AI handles now: owner communication, leasing inquiries, marketing content, and maintenance coordination. Work that directly drives net operating income (NOI) or other financial improvements sees far less AI involvement. Agentic AI, in which AI completes a multistep task from start to finish under human supervision, is used by only 7% of firms.

Takeaway: AI is doing the talking. It’s not yet driving performance.

58% of Property Managers Have No Plan to Expand Their AI Capabilities

Asked how they would expand their AI capabilities, 58% of fee managers either have no plans (27%) or do not know which approach they would take (31%). Roughly a quarter would purchase and configure capabilities through a software vendor. About one in five would build something custom, either in-house (9%) or through a consultant (10%).

Takeaway: Most firms don’t have an AI plan yet. Without one, whatever platform they end up choosing will set their AI strategy by default.

More than half of fee managers name completing existing tasks faster as a main goal of their AI investment. Only about a third cite growing profitability, growing revenue, or growing their portfolio. As we will see, the results follow the intent precisely. Investing to go faster is not the same as investing to perform better.

Takeaway: When the goal is doing the same work faster, the performance gains will stay incremental by design.

Only 9% of Property Managers Have Measured a Quantifiable AI Outcome

Adoption is widespread and already part of most operators’ daily routines, but measured outcomes are nearly absent. Only 9% of fee managers have measured a tangible, quantifiable business outcome as a result of adopting AI. More than 9 in 10 cannot point to a specific result.

Among the 9% who have measured specific improvements in business performance, most gains cluster around task completion time. Only 16% report a measurable improvement in NOI or financial returns for clients.

Takeaway: Very few firms have measured AI’s impact, and those that have rarely report improvements to their bottom line.

Only 4% of Managers Say AI Has Significantly Improved Performance for Their Owners

Asked to rate the level of performance improvement their own use of AI has delivered for the owners they manage, only 4% of property managers rate it significant. Half say moderate or minimal. This is a manager’s self-assessment, not an owner’s, but it’s still the clearest sign yet of how far adoption has outpaced results. The pattern tracks with earlier findings: AI layered on top of existing systems, concentrated on communication, running across tools that don’t share data. That setup has made teams faster. It hasn’t moved NOI.

Takeaway: Delivering performance requires changing what AI is tasked with optimizing.

No More Than 40% Are Delivering the Insights Owners Value Most

Fee managers also rate themselves low on delivering insights to their clients. No more than 40% say they deliver proactive, forward-looking insight, early identification of performance opportunities, demonstrable return on investment (ROI), or real-time portfolio visibility very or extremely effectively.

Takeaway: These are the capabilities owners want most, and no more than 40% of managers deliver any of them very or extremely effectively; many managers are too tied up in routine tasks to get to them. Agentic AI can take over those tasks and free up time to focus on what owners are asking for. Otherwise, owners may decide they can self-manage with AI.

Asked what will drive AI investment over the next 2-3 years, the two groups begin to diverge. Both groups now rank growing profitability first. After that, they split: Owners turn toward creating new value and better resident outcomes, while managers fall back on the same efficiency and cost goals as before.

Takeaway: Managers and their clients are investing in AI for two different futures. Owners are asking for performance. Their managers are still optimizing for efficiency.

Owners Expect More From AI: 43% See Significant Gains Ahead vs. 29% of Managers

Owners expect more from AI than property managers do. Asked how much AI can eventually improve performance, 43% of owners say it can deliver a significant, measurable step change, compared with 29% of property managers. The two groups also see the source of AI’s advantage differently. A majority of owners (55%) say early adopters gain their edge from business performance and operational efficiency together, while managers are most likely to name efficiency alone (34%). 

Owners also weigh it in hiring decisions: When asked how AI would affect their choice of a property management company, 64% say they prefer working with a company that uses AI.

Most property managers do not appear to realize this. Only 12% believe their use of AI helps them win and retain clients, and 29% have never mentioned AI in client-facing positioning at all. Another 11% think it could work against them.

Takeaway: Property owners already see AI as a reason to hire you. Most property managers underestimate the competitive advantage AI provides.

56% of Owners Expect Better Financial Outcomes From AI. Only 36% of Managers Think So.

Managers and owners see the appeal of AI-enabled firms the same way on one point: 64% of managers and 65% of owners say faster response times and better service attract clients. They diverge on the rest: 56% of owners point to lower costs from greater efficiency versus 39% of managers, and 56% of owners point to better financial outcomes versus 36% of managers.

Takeaway: Faster service is expected. Owners are choosing based on cost and financial outcomes.

79% of Owners Say They’re Likely to Self-Manage as AI Improves

Asked how likely they would be to self-manage if AI tools could handle day-to-day operations, 79% of owners say they are likely or very likely to shift to self-management. Only 36% of managers think that shift is likely, an underestimation of more than two to one.

This isn’t a prediction that 79% of owners are leaving tomorrow. It’s 79% saying that if AI could help run day-to-day operations, they don’t believe they’d need a property manager to do it. That’s not a churn forecast. It’s a sign that most owners don’t yet see what a manager offers beyond the tasks AI is starting to handle.

Takeaway: The self-management threat isn’t about AI replacing managers. It’s about managers not yet using AI to create value owners can’t replicate on their own. Automating tasks is the starting point. Creating outcomes owners can’t get elsewhere is what closes the gap.

Only 20% of property managers say they provide full transparency to owners about the AI tools they use. A third provide some transparency (34%), and 45% provide either very little (28%) or none at all (17%).

Takeaway: As mentioned earlier, 64% of owners prefer a property manager who uses AI. To win and keep them, managers need to do more with AI and tell owners what they’re doing.

82% of Owners Are Comfortable With Agentic AI vs. 42% of Managers

Just 42% of property managers say they’re very or somewhat comfortable with agentic AI. Among owners, that number is 82% — nearly double. The two groups aren’t looking at the same technology with the same eyes.

Takeaway: The gap isn’t about the technology. It’s about whether there’s visible oversight behind it: defined boundaries, review after the fact, and clear accountability for the outcome.

Owners Are More Comfortable With Agentic AI Completing Specific Tasks

We also asked which client-facing tasks owners and managers would be comfortable with agentic AI handling. A majority of owners are comfortable with it scheduling maintenance (59%), delivering financial reports (59%), and answering questions about their account (57%). Among managers, only scheduling maintenance gets a majority (51%). Just 3% of owners want a person handling every interaction. For managers, it’s 32%.

Takeaway: The two groups are weighing different risks. Managers carry the liability for every answer and outcome, which makes their caution rational. Owners are focused on whether the work gets done right, and they’re comfortable assuming someone on the management side is already checking.

What Makes Property Managers Trust — or Not Trust — Agentic AI

We asked both groups what makes them comfortable or uncomfortable with AI handling tasks on its own. Read the two columns side by side, and a pattern appears: They’re the same list from opposite directions. Each reason for comfort is a condition being met, and each reason for discomfort is that same condition missing.

For property managers, three conditions determine comfort: the task is well defined, the savings outweigh the risk, and a person reviews the output.

Takeaway: Taken together, these reasons are a checklist for when an agent is safe to use.

Owners’ Trust Rests on an Assumption About Their Manager

Owners’ answers mirror each other, and they point to something specific. Nearly every reason an owner is comfortable is centered on their property manager: that they review what AI does and that the platform they choose has guardrails built in. Flip each one, and you get their reasons for discomfort.

Takeaway: It isn’t that some owners favor AI and others oppose it. The same owner is comfortable or not, depending on whether they believe their property manager is reviewing what the AI does and keeping the right guardrails in place. Most have never asked, and many managers have never told them. That’s not trust you have to earn. It’s trust you have to confirm.

Property Managers and Owners Rate the Same AI Safeguards as Nonnegotiable

Managers and owners align closely on what AI in property management requires: data privacy protections, regulatory compliance, AI that understands real estate and the specifics of the business, a full audit trail, and human approval. Large majorities rate each as very or extremely important. Managers register somewhat greater concern about compliance, which tracks with their greater liability.

Takeaway: Nonnegotiable for both sides: AI that is governed and accountable, not just capable.

Owners are already more comfortable with agentic AI than their managers are, and that comfort rests on an assumption: that someone is watching. Define task boundaries, review completed actions, keep an escalation path to a person, and maintain an audit trail. Visible oversight is what turns that assumption into something real.

Make Transparency a Selling Point, Not a Compliance Task

Only 20% of managers are fully transparent about their AI use, while 64% of owners say they prefer a manager who uses it. Owners already want this, and managers aren’t telling them they have it. Put it where owners will see it: a paragraph in the monthly statement, a page in the onboarding packet, or a few minutes in your next owner conversation. Say what you use, what it’s for, who reviews the output, and what it’s changed, such as faster maintenance resolution, better resident satisfaction, and clearer reporting. At this scale, AI gives owners something they can’t replicate on their own, so make that explicit.

Aim AI at NOI, Not Just Speed

More than half of firms invest in AI to go faster; only 16% (of those who measured specific improvements in business performance) have moved NOI. The workflows worth looking at first are the ones that touch current and prospective residents directly: leasing and applicant response, maintenance coordination, and renewals. Managers are already reporting gains in all three: 44% say time to lease improved, 42% say maintenance resolution time improved, and 38% say resident satisfaction or retention improved. Pick one, and track whether it shows up in renewals and retention, not just in response times.

Prove Performance With a Baseline

Only 9% of managers have measured a quantifiable result from AI, and just 7% have deployed agentic AI at all. That second number is the opportunity: Most firms are still ahead of the rollout, which is the only point at which a baseline is possible. Before you turn an AI agent loose on a workflow, write down where you’re starting. Track the amount of time from lead to lease; hours or days to maintenance resolution; renewal percentage over a full cycle. Then measure the same three after. Renewal percentage is one to consistently track because it most directly influences retention and revenue. Give this time because if designed correctly, you should see opportunities to continually improve the agents and your results.

Deliver the Insight Owners Are Actually Asking For

Only 35% of managers say they deliver proactive, forward-looking insight very or extremely effectively, and it’s one of the things owners need most. Don’t wait for a new system to make this easier. Block an hour per quarter per owner account and review what the data already shows. Flag a maintenance pattern before it becomes a bad month, or show what the portfolio’s numbers say about buying the next unit. That’s the insight owners are asking for.

Takeaway: The survey findings point to a practical agenda. None of it requires technology the industry doesn’t already have. It requires pointing AI at outcomes rather than tasks, and then measuring whether it worked.

Property management respondents work at US-based residential fee-management companies that use AI. Owner and investor respondents own US residential rental property currently managed by a professional property manager. The two samples were drawn independently.

Property Manager Demographics & Firmographics

Owner Demographics & Firmographics